The Silence of the Lambs and Night of the Living Dead, two bona fide horror gems, are officially joining the Criterion Collection.
Each film classic will receive a 4K restoration, along with scores of special features, which will be available from February 13th, 2018. Now how’s that for a Valentine’s Day treat?
On a more somber note, news of this re-release arrives at a difficult time for the horror community: Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme passed away back in April, while George A. Romero, the undisputed king of zombies, died in July. Indeed, it was difficult losing two legendary filmmakers in the space of three months, but this posthumous recognition ensures their finest achievements are ushered into the pantheon of great cinema.
Each release will come with different bonus features – Lambs, for instance, includes audio commentary from Demme himself, along with Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and screenwriter Ted Tally – and we’ve included a detailed overview of each re-release below, beginning with Night of the Living Dead:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, coscreenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
- New restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Gary R. Streiner, and presented uncompressed on the Blu-ray
- Night of Anubis, a never-before-presented work-print edit of the film
- New program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, and Robert Rodriguez
- Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reel
- New piece featuring Russo about the commercial and industrial-film production company where key Night of the Living
- Dead filmmakers got their start
- Two audio commentaries from 1994, featuring Romero, Russo, producer Karl Hardman, actor
- Judith O’Dea, and more
- Archival interviews with Romero and actors Duane Jones and Judith Ridley
- New programs about the editing, the score, and directing ghouls
- New interviews with Gary R. Streiner and Russel W. Streiner
- Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
- More!
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans
The Silence of the Lambs, meanwhile, boasts the following content:
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Tak Fujimoto, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 1994 featuring director Jonathan Demme, actors Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, screenwriter Ted Tally, and former FBI agent John Douglas
- New interview with critic Maitland McDonagh
- Thirty-five minutes of deleted scenes
- Interview from 2005 with Demme and Foster
- Inside the Labyrinth, a 2001 documentary
- Page to Screen, a 2002 program about the adaptation
- Scoring “The Silence,” a 2004 interview program featuring composer Howard Shore
- Understanding the Madness, a 2008 program featuring interviews with retired FBI special agents
- Original behind-the-scenes featurette
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Amy Taubin along with, in the Blu-ray edition, a new introduction by Foster; an account of the origins of the character Hannibal Lecter by author Thomas Harris; and a 1991 interview with Demme
The Criterion library will swing its doors open to both The Silence of the Lambs and Night of the Living Dead in February. Closer to home, there’s another film classic prepped and ready for its own 4K restoration – Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Expect that one to grace Blu-Ray early next month.
